THE DETECTIVE who led an investigation into a massive brawl between football hooligans in York has been praised for his work.

Detective Constable Peter Wilson coordinated Operation Citrus, which was set up following a fight between upwards of 40 people ahead of a York City home match against Chester City in October 2016.

North Yorkshire Police scoured hours of CCTV and identified nine men - six from Chester and North Wales, three from York - who have since been banned from attending England and York City matches after admitting being involved in the fight.

Det Con Wilson said: "It was quite a violent incident, with a number of tables, chairs and glasses being thrown.

"The priority was to identify those involved. With collaboration with Cheshire Police we managed to identify about 15 offenders - a number from York and a number from Cheshire. Once that had been completed, we had two days of action, where we went and arrested the York contingent that were identified as well as the Cheshire contingent that were identified. A number of officers were involved, not only on the day but also recovering CCTV footage, intelligence packages that were put together, as well as those officers who were involved in the processing of the offenders through interviews."

 

Chief Constable Lisa Winward with Detective Constable Peter Wilson

Det Con Wilson said: "Following consultation with the CPS, nine of those offenders were charged with the offence of violent disorder and in early 2018 all nine were convicted and given custodial sentences. I think that's a great result. It highlights the good work that North Yorkshire Police and Cheshire Police have, certainly in regard to violent incidents around football, which is something quite new to this force. We've never, I don't believe, investigated such a large-scale disorder on that level, and to be recognised in that respect with a commendation from the Chief Constable is quite nice."